The Qingtian Overseas Chinese Import Expo will take place on Nov 14-16 at Import Commodity City in Qingtian county, in Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province – but this year with a twist, according to the organizers.

In the run-up to the event, the WeChat mini-program for the online edition of the expo was started up, to test all its functions.

The organizers said that means those exhibitors and buyers who can't come to the venue in person can still participate through cloud exhibitions, live broadcasting, cloud signings and cloud procurements.

"At present, we have uploaded 2,000 products from nearly 100 businesses to the mini-program," said expo staff member Liao Yawen.

"Before the Expo, we will upload more than 13,000 products from about 600 businesses for centralized display. Purchasers can directly see the products through the online platform," Liao added.

What's more, marketing and promotions – in the form of a short video contest and discount coupons and vouchers – will be used to attract the locals.